


The Sun Shines Bright (But You Shine Brighter)

by sbiderwoman



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Bisexual Characters, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Forbidden Love, Gay Characters, Gen, Homeless Peter Parker, Hurt Harley Keener, Hurt Peter Parker, Irondad Spiderson - Freeform, M/M, Peter Parker Whump, hehe floof, middle ages AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-09-24 03:46:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20351860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sbiderwoman/pseuds/sbiderwoman
Summary: The sun shone bright in Tessaria./Tessaria was a beautiful kingdom.





	The Sun Shines Bright (But You Shine Brighter)

**Author's Note:**

> vellichor: the strange wistfulness of used bookshops.

The sun shone bright in Tessaria.

Bright enough to wake Harley Keener-Rogers from his peaceful slumber.

Lying in his gigantic bed, Harley's eyes fluttered open.

Time for another day of being a prince.

*****

14- soon to be 15 year-old Harley Keener-Rogers was the adoptive son of King Steven "Steve" Grant Rogers and Queen Margaret "Peggy" Carter, and the older brother of twelve year-old prince Tybalt Keener-Rogers. Harley Keener was the perfect prince. He was tall, lean and muscled, with wavy blond hair, baby blue eyes and a constellation of delicate freckles on his face. He was kind, brave, funny and insanely intelligent. His father didn't want him to make any public appearances in fear of endangering him, so he mainly stayed inside the wide palace's walls so very few of the citizens truly knew what he looked like. Although, whenever he made appearances in his father's gallas or royal dinners, he managed to charm even the toughest crowd with his smirk and his sharp tongue. All of the few ladies who had the chance to meet him him fell instantly in love with him.

Taking off his nightgown tiredly, he trudged over to his massive wardrobe and put on his robes for the day before heading down for breakfast.

*****

Breakfast was almost always a quite affair in the royal family. They would greet each other ('Good morning, mother, father' 'Good morning Harley, Tybalt'), then they would quietly take their seats, The queen and kind on one side of the table, Harley and Tybalt on the other side. They would sit in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, until the servants brought them their food. They would then start filling their plates and goblets with bread, dried meat, vegetables and grape juice. Afterwards, they would eat in another uncomfortable silence, occasionally broken to ask about the weather. Finally, the kids would get up first, followed by the children, on their way to do their own thing for the rest of the day. 

That morning, Harley had other plans in mind.

''Good morning father, mother'' his brother echoed him before joining him on the right side of the table.

''Good morning Harley, Tybalt'' said his mother and father at the same time.

They started their daily routine, sitting down and waiting for the servants to bring the food.

''Father'' started Harley, breaking the silence first for the first time in forever ''why do you keep me within the palace walls at all times?''

Steve sighed resignedly. ''Harley, we've had this conversation plenty of times before. The village is way too dangerous for you, if anyone recognises you you'd be in danger. I'm only trying to keep you safe''

Usually, this is where the conversation would end, but today Harley had had enough.

''But- but what if I put a cloth on my head? Or what if I have one of the royal guards accompany me, then surely I won't be endangered-''

''Harley, don't you-''

''Besides, I've never seen the village! How am I supposed to rule if don't know my people-''

''Harley, stop trying to-''

''And it's my fifteenth birthday soon'' Harley's voice grew louder as he gained confidence ''and I think it would only be fair, since I've been taking lessons from Uncle Bucky so I can defend myself-''

''HARLEY, THAT'S ENOUGH'' Yelled his father startling him and making his brother and mother flinch. 

''But- but why?' he questioned, ignoring his mother's pleading look.

''Because you're not ready. And don't you dare interrupt me again.'' growled Steve, trying to reign his anger. 

Harley stood from his seat abruptly and stormed out of the room, ignoring the "breakfast is served" or his father's pleas for him to come back.

Because, in the end, no one came after him.

No one ever did.

That night, Harley went to step foot outside the palace floors for the first time. Or he was supposed to.

But last minute, he dropped his cloak and ran back to the castle in quiet footsteps.

*****

Tessaria was a beautiful kingdom.

It had colourful plazas and prestigious tailor shops and mouth watering bakeries.

If you had enough money, living there could be seen like living in a blissful paradise.

14 year old Peter Benjamin Parker, didn't have enough money. In fact, he had close to nothing. Ever since the attack from the neighbouring kingdom two years ago, he had lost everything; his parents, his aunt and uncle, his house, his clothes. Lord Thanos really hadn't spared anyone or anything. He had left thousand of families starving and on the street. Luckily, most of them had recovered by now and were back to living a worry-free life.

Peter had not recovered. But here's the thing, he was happy in his own way.

Peter, ever since he was a child, was a simple boy. He never really wanted much. And, sure, maybe what he had now was less than much but people had it worse than him.

Almost everyone in Tessaria knew Peter. He was kind, intelligent and funny. No one, on the other hand, knew he was living on the streets.

Or, rather, a library, thanks to Karen.

''Hey, Ms Karen!'' exclaimed Peter

The librarian let out a fond smile and gave Peter a half hearted glare.

''I've told you, Peter, it's just Karen to you''

''Sorry, just Karen'' replied Peter with a mischievous smile.

Karen scoffed.

''Run along now, you little rascal, before I kick you out of my library'', she said, but without any real bite to her words.

Peter, who knew that was an empty threat, simply laughed and ran to his 'room'.

Karen was a really good friend of his family, and the fact that Peter visited the library consistently resulted into him growing closer to the young librarian. When Karen had learnt about his parents, she had been devastated, and let Peter stay in her library. 

Since then they had grown to be some kind of brother-sister figures to each other.

His room was barely even that. It was a small, cozy spot in the very top of the library, with a cushion, a bedsheet, a lamp and an impressive amount of books, parchments and blueprints with his numerous inventions on them. Karen was, after all, not the richest and had barely enough money to get by by herself, so Peter had to use his genius in order to stay alive. Not many people knew of his inventions but the little that did were enamoured by them, as they were both practical and beautiful.

Peter sighed as he laid down on the wooden floor. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of the sunlight turning his eyelids pink. He wanted to rest just for a minute before getting ready for the kingdom's annual festival, celebrating the empire's founding.

All in all, Peter Parker was happy. He may be barely scraping by, but he's alive.

And to him, that's the most important thing.

*****

The very next day, Harley wakes up with a goal. Tonight was the kingdom's annual festival, and this time he wouldn't let himself chicken out. He would go out and have fun, meet his people and his city.

And he won't let anyone stop him.

*****

Hours later, Peter wakes up just in time to hear the conch horn blow, and he smiles. Time to let himself go for one night.

*****

That night, when Harley slipped his cloak on and quietly tip toed out of the palace grounds, he didn't look back.

**Author's Note:**

> fun fact: did you know that since virgin mary gave birth to jesus without being impregnated, it would mean he only has two x chromosomes? which would mean that either jesus is female, or he's a trans male.
> 
> (go scream at me on https://tellonym.me/sbiderwoman hehe ;v;)


End file.
